


‘Till The End Of Time, ‘Till The Empires Burn Down

by beastofthesky



Series: Tangible [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, M/M, Tangible!verse, Timestamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 01:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beastofthesky/pseuds/beastofthesky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sam broods over Dean's absence. Set between chapters four and five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	‘Till The End Of Time, ‘Till The Empires Burn Down

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Metallica's cover of _Loverman_ , originally by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

“Gee, Sam, could you possibly brood any louder?”

Lucifer’s sarcasm echoes dully in the dark motel room, but Sam doesn’t respond. All of the anxiety has built up almost to the point where he can’t function again, where he’s stuck in a hole and digging himself deeper and deeper.

“ _Sam_.”

He looks up to find Lucifer leaning over him, almost uncomfortably close, with a decidedly uncharacteristic look on his face – it’s void of wicked humor and taunting, and there’s something almost _worried_ there. Sam sits up a little straighter and shakes hair out of his face, ignoring the way Lucifer less-than-gracefully crawls over him to prop himself up next to Sam against the headboard. Really, he thinks, the devil’s kind of a six-year-old.

“It’s just–” He swallows hard and automatically rubs and picks at the scar on his hand. “I miss him. A lot.” He laughs; it’s hollow, mirthless. “I’m scared I’ll never see him again.”

Lucifer gently pulls his hands apart and smooths cool fingers over the scar. Sam swallows again, swallows the panic down and concentrates on the delicate finger-pads against his palm, the coolness-warmth-presence of Lucifer next to him. He steadfastly ignores the fact that he’s seeking (and finding comfort) in the devil.

And then, suddenly, he’s reeling.

There’s a tiny point within his core, deep in his bones, that’s blooming brightly with empathy and warmth and comfort, spreading itself lazily from that little pinprick out to the tips of his fingers and he _knows_ that it’s Lucifer sharing all of the things that there’s no words for – missing a brother, feeling lonely and hurt and abandoned.

Sam takes a deep, shuddering breath and realizes that Lucifer’s got a hand cupped around his face and it’s weird, it’s so _weird_ , and he leans into it and takes another breath. Lucifer might be a little brother too, but right now he’s doing a great job of taking care of Sam exactly the way Dean did. Does.

“It’ll be fine, Sam,” says Lucifer calmly.

Sam’s got a huge bucket of emotion welling up inside him and somehow he knows Lucifer can feel it all – gratitude, so much gratitude that he’s got Lucifer here by his side, the remnants of panic slowly fading away, and the slowly creeping realization that things just might be fine.

“You know better than anyone that Dean can take care of himself,” Lucifer continues, and his voice is soft and low as he gently nudges Sam to lie down on his side and god, Sam wants to laugh at the fact that _Lucifer the fallen angel_ is comforting him.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have–” Sam pauses, unsure of how to say what’s on his mind.

“What, he doesn’t have Satan sitting on his shoulder?” murmurs Lucifer, amused, and Sam can feel the faint tickle of stubble on the back of his neck.

“He doesn’t have someone protecting him,” Sam corrects, without thinking. The silence is much too loud to be comfortable.

“A guardian angel,” Lucifer breathes, after what seems like a millenium. “I like that.”

 

\---

 

Sam watches with a sort of morbid fascination as Lucifer drowns his already-sodden double chocolate chip pancakes in even more syrup. The sugar thing must really run in the family.

He clears his throat; Lucifer spares him a glance.

“So... that thing last night.” He gets a sardonic eyebrow in response. “The, uh.... the thing where I could feel what you’re feeling.”

“And they told me you were intelligent,” sighs Lucifer, and rolls his eyes royally as he leans against the back of the booth. “I’m a part of you, Sam. What’s there not to get?”

And with that the age-old Oh God I’m The Devil’s Vessel panic comes back and brings with it a flood of Oh God Dean’s Still Missing panic and Sam’s holding his cheap mug of coffee much too tightly and everything else dissolves into white noise.

“Sam,” snaps the Devil impatiently, an curls an inhumanly strong hand around his wrist. “Calm down.”

Sam’s eyes latch on to him; the world narrows down to those not-quite-human-any-more blue eyes and a cool hand on his arm. He can feel the Devil’s irritation with him but there’s an undercurrent of otherworldly patience, all washed over with an insistence to be calm, to relax.

And then there’s a slight push from Lucifer and Sam gives way, just a little bit, and the rest of the dimensions between them slide away or maybe melt together and he inhales deeply, breathes in all of Lucifer’s inhuman calm and patience and this, _this_ is something he could get hooked on – he drinks it all in greedily, the way Lucifer’s fingers bounce in the smallest atom-increments over the pulse in his wrist, the brush of not-feathers on his face, the bright, strong blaze of _Lucifer_ , all of the things he is with Sam and everything he’s not without him. The seamless meld of their souls or beings or Grace-and-soul, whatever it is, resonates so deeply within Sam that he feels it like the low thrum of a bass in his bones, some inexhaustible drummer pounding away at a rhythm that he-they-Lucifer-Sam treads to.

Lucifer slowly pulls his hand away (it feels like the shift takes eons) and Sam slumps forward over his coffee. He feels the corners of his mouth tug up in a smile and when he meets Lucifer’s eyes there’s a smirk there, and he knows he doesn’t have to say ‘thank you’ out loud.


End file.
